


In The Crimson Light

by Glyphhunter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, M/M, Open to Interpretation, Possible Character Death, siren au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 22:25:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11701101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glyphhunter/pseuds/Glyphhunter
Summary: "Do you know what a mermaid is, Lance?" Pidge looks over her shoulder."Half human, half fish?"Pidge snorts. "Close."





	In The Crimson Light

It’s the singing that catches his attention. Lance is wading through the tide pools, searching for shells and weird animals caught in them, when he first catches the even tones over the water. The voice is smooth and clear, enchanting even, and he straightens in his attempt to hear where it’s coming from. A few steps forward, a few more to the left, and he doesn’t need to worry about direction when he can see the woman sitting on the rocks.

Down on the plateau, her skin is pale and her dark hair is long, plastered to her shoulders by how wet it is. She’s singing to the ocean and swaying slightly without a care to anyone who might hear. Which happens to be Lance. Lance can hear and she doesn’t know he’s there. He wants to say something but who know’s what might happen if he does. He sucks in a breath and bites his tongue instead.

Her voice is warm as she sings with words Lance doesn’t know. It’s a language he’s never heard and he wonders for a brief moment if Hunk would know it. The moment’s actually very brief ‘cause she’s turning in the next.

Looking at the rest of the ocean, Lance guesses, but she notices him immediately and the singing stops. And so does Lance’s brain. Because for all that the person has long hair and a slim waist, the front brings a very different story.

There’s bright red scales covering a broad chest, up the neck, and over the cheeks. And Lance can no longer tell if it’s a man or a woman. He wants to say it’s a man as they stare at him with wide eyes in an angular face. But that’s really no way to tell the gender of something that is Not Human.  

He’s still staring, slack jawed, when they disappear in the swell and splash of a wave. He doesn’t even have the faculties to shout after them, too stunned by the sight. He almost doesn’t even believe it. A part of him wants to blame it on the heat, but he can’t actually deny what he just saw.

He turns around and doesn’t even pick up the shells he’d dropped. He heads back up the beach to his house next to the road. With each step, he remembers their voice and their face. There’s giddy excitement rising in his chest. A grin stretches across his face.

_A mermaid!_

* * *

 

He doesn’t tell anyone for the next week what he saw. Not because no one would believe him, no, he knew the stories and legends as much as the next person in the cove. It was because they might try to convince him it wasn’t a mermaid.

“You’re an idiot, that’s a fucking siren.”

Like that.

Lance huffs, puffed out cheeks and all as Pidge gives him a flat eyed stare from his bed. He turns to Hunk in the bean bag chair who looks apologetic as he nods.

“Sorry, buddy,” he says as Lance groans and sets his desk chair spinning. “I want to believe you but, you know, mermaids went extinct 50 years ago. You missed your chance there.”

“I swear!” he insists. He lets the chair spin to a stop. “There was a mermaid by the cliffs! It had black hair, red scales and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, like, _damn._ ”

“I believe that you _think_ you saw a mermaid,” Hunk says, “but everything you’re telling us just points to it being a siren.”

“Again, you’re an idiot.”

“Thank you, Pidge!” Lance stands and throws his hands in the air. “You’re so helpful, thank you for your input. I’ll be sure to take it into consideration.”

Pidge shrugs with one shoulder as Hunk sighs. “I’m just saying,” she says as Lance starts pacing the room. “Have you even seen it again? How can you know for sure?”

“I feel it in my gut the way I feel it when Mamá is about to go on a rampage.” The surety in his voice has Hunk and Pidge looking at each other again until Hunk sighs again, deeper and far more resigned.

“Okay, let’s find your mermaid,” he relents. Lance pumps his fist and bolts out the door, already chattering faster than they can keep up.  The look Pidge gives Hunk is the kind of disapproving that usually comes from his mother.

“He’s never going to shut up now,” she says.

“You know as well as I do that he wasn’t going to shut up anyway.”

“... Fair.”

* * *

 They don’t find anything when they get to the beach, much to Lance’s disappointment. They don’t find anything the next day either when Lance practically drags them out.

“It was right here, I swear,” he tells them, eyes scouring the rocks for any sort of clue. A scrape, a hair, a scale, anything. But when he comes up empty, they all leave in various states of frustration. The day after that, Hunk claims errands for his mother and Pidge absolutely refuses to leave the house. Which, yeah, with the storm that Lance can see roiling off the coast, he doesn’t blame her. He goes down to the beach alone.

The water is choppy when he gets there. It’s loud against the sand and he can hear it crashing against the rocks in the distance. There’s an energy to the air, almost electric, and Lance’s fingers tingle from excitement. It’s going to be a good one.  

He doesn’t notice the singing at first, too absorbed with watching the water and the clouds as they both slowly darken. At the first crack of lightning, Lance shouts and throws his hands into the air. There’s a silence that follows after it and it’s then that he hears it.

It’s just as entrancing as the ocean, shifting and tumultuous and as angry as the waves that crash on the beach.

_The mermaid!_

He’s running along the sand the moment he realizes it. There’s another strike of lightning as he splashes through the tide pools. When the rain starts coming down, it’s in sheets. He has to use his hands to get down to the plateau and then he’s finally on the same level.

The mermaid is there once again on the edge of the rocks, and it looks even more at home among the storm than it did the other day. Wet hair whips with the wind but despite the power in the voice that belts across the ocean, the mermaid is perfectly still. It’s a pillar among the wind and the rain and Lance is mesmerised.

Once again he’s noticed but this time, the mermaid doesn’t stop. Lance is caught by eyes as dark as the ocean and there’s a certain energy to them that makes Lance want to go closer. He’s very weak to his own desires, he’ll admit that freely.

He closes the distance between them. Slowly, so he doesn’t slip and crack his head open ‘cause that’d really put a damper on things. The mermaid lifts a slim fingered hand and Lance lowers obligingly. It’s still singing and it’s eyes glimmer in the dim light as it’s hand brushes against his cheek. Lance doesn’t know what it wants but he’s willing to go with it. Go with the flow and all that. Just wing it.

He doesn’t get the chance to though, through no fault of his own. There’s a shout behind him and suddenly the mermaid is hissing and Lance is being jerked back by the collar of his shirt. Hunk is cursing in his ear and from one second to the next, the mermaid vanishes into the water. Lance blinks and gasps a breath.

The water is a lot closer than he expected and his legs scramble to push him back when a wave crests the edge. Suddenly he’s cold, absolutely freezing and the roar of the storm around him is the only thing he can hear aside from Hunk. His legs are weak and it’s Hunks arms around his chest that keeps him from slipping down to the rocks.

“Come on, Lance,” Hunk is urging, “work with me buddy.” He’s dragging Lance backwards but the rocks are slick and everything is wet. Lance’s fingers fumble before latching onto Hunk’s jacket. He tries to speak but he can’t get more than stuttered ‘I’s and Hunk shushes him.

“We’re going to get out of here first,” he says as he draws Lance further away. Lance can’t tear his eyes from the edge of the rock. “Then we’re going to talk about what happened here.” Lance nods meekly.

* * *

 The chewing out he receives is almost on the same level as his mother’s. He sits on Hunk’s bed, wrapped in the fluffiest towel Hunk’s mother owns, and listens with shame burning his cheeks.  He keeps his head bowed and eyes trained on the mug of hot tea in his hands as Hunk paces in front of him.

He’s ranting about sirens, their techniques and ploys to catch prey, the danger of going out when one’s around, and the danger of going out in storms to begin with.

“You know this!” he says somewhere around the middle. “They drilled it into our heads in class. They made us take a course to _recognise_ when we’re in a thrall!” And he continues, hands gesticulating wildly with his upset. Lance stays silent when Hunk falls quiet and comes to a stop at his knees.

“Lance, you almost died today.”

His voice breaks at the end and Lance can’t stop the sudden tears. His throat is tight and his next breath is hard. “I’m sorry,” he says. Hunk takes the mug from his shaking grasp. Lance presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“...Promise me you’ll be safe.” Hunk asks. Lance nods furiously, lips tight. “Lance, promise.”

“ _I promise_ ,” Lance chokes out and finally Hunk is there with his arms around Lance’s shoulders. “I promise, I promise,” he repeats into Hunk’s sweater. “I’ll stay away, I won’t go back. I swear.”

And he tries.

He actively keeps himself to the edge of the tide pools, fully in sight of who ever happened to be on the beach. But one day he gets absorbed. Every time he looks up, there seems to be another colourful shell or piece of glass or small fish. He doesn’t notice how far he’s wandered until the next time he looks up and it’s the steps to the plateau in front of him instead of another pool.

His heart leaps to his throat and he nearly drops the shell he just picked up. Hunk’s voice rings in the back of his mind. _‘Promise me you’ll be safe.’_ Lance scans the shelf but there’s no sign of the siren. The day is warm, the sky is clear, and the rock is empty. Safe enough, Lance figures and he climbs down.

He settles himself near the edge and lays out his haul. He sorts them first by type, then by colour and contemplates what to do with them. A bracelet, maybe. Or even a necklace, he picked up enough small ones. He picks up one side of a clam shell and angles it in the light. He mother would like that one. He sets it aside, the pearlescent lining shining in the sun.

He’s keenly aware of when the mer- The siren. He’s _very_ aware of when the siren arrives, scales gleaming red in the water. Lance freezes for a moment, then braces his feet under hm. The siren stares with wide violet eyes but it doesn’t do more than lift the top of its head out of the water. Lance glares.

“Don’t think you can try and eat me again,” he tells it. “I know your tricks.” The siren stays silent. Lance doesn’t know why he expected it to know English. Its eyes dip down to Lance’s knees and for a moment, Lance is confused. He doesn’t expect the arm that darts up and snatches the clam shell from the edge.

“Hey!” Lance shouts and lunges forward but the siren is gone as quick as it appeared. Lance scowls, frustration hot in his chest. He gathers his things before something else decides to come along and steal them. First the siren tries to kill him, then it steals his shit. Lance is going to swear off the beach pretty soon.

Hunk sees him as he’s crossing the tide pools and he’s immediately concerned. Lance hides his exasperation behind a smile and a wave.

* * *

 There’s a bit of a breeze the next day and once again, Lance ends up on the plateau. He hesitates before going down, lip between his teeth. He doesn’t even have anything this time, but after yesterday, Lance is burning with curiosity.

He sets himself at the edge and dips his feet in the water. It covers his ankles and rises to nearly his knees with every wave. It’s cool compared to the heat of the sun. He leans forward until he can see the sand at the bottom, coloured blue by the water. There’s a small gathering of fish in the weeds to the side. He loses track of time watching them until the wind turns cold and he had to pull his feet out of the water.

The siren didn’t show up.

Lance glares out at the ocean, frustrated with himself and the disappointment that fills his chest. He gets up and brushes the dirt from his shorts.

He’s not coming back, he decides.

He manages, is managing, when he hears the voice over the water three days later. There’s no song and at first, Lance thinks it’s one of the many birds that nest on the cliffs. But it’s consistent and when he looks up, it’s because it sounds like his name. He cocks his head and listens.

It’s a call, pure and simple, and there’s a certain level of hope in it that makes Lance want to go. He gets two steps before he jerks to a stop and turns sharply on his heel. _No!_

He’s not going to fall for that trick again. He grits his teeth and marches away. He goes back to digging through the pools and steadfastly ignores the voice on the water. He ignores it as his name gets clearer and others start looking up. He ignores it when the hope shifts to sorrow.

He doesn’t ignore it when he spots a child edging around the pools, focused in the direction of the plateau. She’s maybe 6 and she doesn’t turn when Lance calls for her to stop.

“Hey!” he shouts, louder and still she continues. People are looking at him now and he spots when her mother, a woman with the same brown hair and wide eyes, catches on. But Lance is already moving, racing across the rocks and shale to scoop the girl up under her arms.

“No!” she protests and kicks against him. “It’s so sad! Why is it sad?”

“Amelia!” the mother comes up behind Lance and Amelia’s focus finally turns.

“Muma!” She cranes her head over Lance’s shoulder and he turns to pass her off. “We’ve gotta help it! We gotta make it not sad!” Her fingers grab and tug the straps of her mother’s swimsuit, insistent. “Please, muma!”

“No, sweetheart.” She shakes her head. “We have to go.”

“No!” Amelia cries, “Please!” She pulls harder on the straps and tries her best to get down. She manages to slip mostly free and Lance is immediately crouching down to stop her.

“Hey, hey, Amelia?” She looks at him with a full pout and watery eyes. “How about I go help, okay?” Lance offers. “I’ll go make sure it’s not sad anymore.” Amelia’s mother is looking at him with wide eyes. She knows exactly what’s over there.

Amelia looks him up and down, evaluating, before she nods reluctantly. “You gotta make it happy,” she says and Lance gives her a smile.

“Of course,” he promises even as the mother’s expression gets more worried.

“Okay.” Amelia nods and allows her mother to pick her up again.

“I’ll send someone after you,” she says as she backs and turns away and Lance can’t exactly tell her not to. Amelia watches from over her shoulder and points when Lance doesn’t move. Lance cringes and turns. Reprimanded by a child, geez.

_Lance!_

His breath catches in his throat as he flinches. Don’t fall for it, he tells himself. Just get it to leave.

He goes to the plateau and the siren is there in the water, wide eyes trained on the corner of stone. Its expression brightens when Lance comes around and it pulls itself out to sit on the rock.

Lance crosses his arms. “What do you want?” he asks as it calls his name again. And it’s unmistakable, the siren somehow learned his name. There’s hope in its eyes as it leans towards him, as far from the water as it can get, and Lance feels a pull in his heart.

It doesn’t look like it wants to eat him.

He sighs and drops down. There’s an excited chirrup from the siren and for some reason, Lance is smiling. How can something that looks so sweet be so dangerous?

The siren is practically vibrating as Lance approaches. As soon as he’s deemed close enough, it holds out its hands and Lance stops short. It takes him a second to realize what it is but he recognises the clam shell displayed in the middle.

It’s a necklace, but it’s not any kind he’s seen before. He doesn’t know what the string or the beads are made of and he swears there’s at least two teeth in the mix. Lance looks at the siren, bewildered, and blinks at the apprehension that has started to take over.

It’s nervous, Lance realizes. He didn’t even know sirens to get nervous. Or be happy or sad and any of those things really. He looks at the offering again - or gift, he doesn’t know what to call it - and sees the way it shimmers in the sun.

It’s actually really pretty.

Lance inches forward and the siren, whose arms have begun to flag, perks up. It pushes its hands towards him and Lance shakes his head with a laugh.

“If this is an apology, I’ll take it,” he says as he crouches down. He gently takes the necklace and holds it up to the sun. It’s intricate, lots of little bits a pieces, and it’s going to take him a while to figure out what everything is. A good amount of the beads are red.

“Thank you,” he says and sets it in his lap. The siren claps its hands together, grinning wide enough that its eyes scrunch up. Then it pushes itself back into the water with a splash that drenches Lance from head to toe. He’s flat on his ass as he shouts in surprise - no, he does not shriek, thanks Hunk - and two seconds later, there’s another shout.

It’s the siren. Laughing, if the strange staccato beats are anything to go by and today really seems to be the day for realizations. Sirens are objectively pretty, Lance knows this as well as the next person. But there’s something about the way this siren’s face lights up and the curl of its lips that makes Lance want to see more.

“Do you have a name?” he asks as the laughter dies out. The siren tilts its head as it floats lazily on its back. Black hair spreads in the water like a halo. It considers him for a moment, lips quirked in such a way that Lance thinks it’s smirking. Then it twists and slips beneath the surface with a flip of its tail that Lance swears is intentional.

He sputters and wipes the water out of his eyes, cursing up a storm. He’s ready to get up and leave by the time the salt has stopped stinging. The water churns around his ankles. Something brushes his toes.

Lance opens his eyes in time to see the siren surge up in front of him. The grunt of surprise locks in his throat and he’s leaning backwards and the siren keeps coming. Its breath is cool on his cheek, body smooth between his legs.

This close, Lance can see every part of its face that isn’t human. He watches the pupils dilate from thin slits. He sees the sharp glint of its fangs as it opens its mouth. The red of its scales seem to be taking up his vision.

Two things happen at once. A whisper in his ear, and the fiercest, loudest cry Lance has ever heard come from Hunk. Lance isn’t even wearing a shirt that he can grab this time and he ends up with rocks digging into his back as Hunks hand digs into his shoulder.

There’s a sharp yelp from the siren and Lance’s heart leaps into his throat.

“Don’t! Stop!”

Lance sees everything and he’s helpless to stop it. There’s a fishing spear in Hunk’s hand, band stretched and ready to strike. The siren is falling back, fear in his eyes and blood on his chest. Lance reaches up but Hunk is already letting go and the spear buries into the siren’s chest as he crashes into the water.

“No, no, _no!”_

Lance scrambles forward but he can’t see pass the blood in the water. Hunk’s hand is tight around his arm as he’s pulled back. Lance tries to fight it, tries to wrench his arm free, but Hunk just picks him up and bodily carries him away from the water.

“How could you?” he shouts. He claws at Hunk’s shoulders, kicks at his legs. The necklace is clutched tight in one hand. “How could you do that? How could you kill him?”

But Hunk is silent as he drags Lance away and Lance screams at the injustice.

* * *

 He doesn’t leave his home for two weeks. Hunk tells his mother what he knows and the hug he gets from her leaves him a little guilty. But he can’t forget the smile and the sound of the siren’s laugh.

Sirens are monsters but what monster feels emotions?

He doesn’t let the necklace out of his sight. He runs the beads between his fingers, coral and shells and little bits of bone. The red ones are scales, pieces of the siren himself and Lance is extra gentle with those.

He’s sitting in the bay window, staring out at the beach dimmed by an overcast sky. He doesn’t hear the knock on the door but he sees when Pidge settles herself on the other end of the bench. Lance is quiet and so is she.

He runs his thumb down the front of the clam shell, over the design etched into the surface. A strange marking, almost like a rune. Lance doesn't really know how to describe it.

“His name was Keith,” Lance says eventually, voice rough. Pidge only tilts her head. “Keith knew happiness and fear and he was nervous when he gave this to me.”

Pidge makes a sound, a little jolt of surprise. Lance turns the necklace over in his hands. He lets her see every little piece and the care in every knot. Even in the dim lighting it’s pretty.

“Is it wrong of me to think that maybe, after that, we could have been friends?” Lance asks and very slowly, Pidge shakes her head.

“No,” she says, barely a whisper, and Lance cries. She sits with him as he presses his forehead against the glass. She looks away from the tears that drip down his chin.

When there’s a break in the clouds, she shifts. Lance’s eyes are red and there’s still a tremble to his lips but he looks up as she stands.

“Come with me,” she says. A demand, not a request. Lance sighs, long and deep, but doesn’t object. He uncurls his legs and stands on unsteady feet.

He doesn't see the look Pidge shares with his mother as they pass through the kitchen. He keeps his eyes to the ground as they walk down the path. She leads him across the beach, around the tide pools, and stops at the top of the plateau. Lance takes a deep breath and tries very hard not to cry again.

“What's going on, Pidge?” he asks. He’s staring at the edge of the rock. The blood is gone, washed away by the tide. Pidge steps down and makes her way to the edge.

“Do you know what a mermaid is, Lance?” She scuffs her sandal on the rock. Lance pulls his lip between his teeth and when he doesn't answer right away, Pidge looks over her shoulder.

“Half human, half fish?” he guesses. Pidge snorts and shakes her head.

“Close.” She bends down and picks up a loose stone. “Come here.” Lance whines in the back of his throat but obeys. He doesn't bother with the natural steps, just takes one big step off the side and Pidge wrinkles her nose.

“You're a giant, I get it. Take this.” She tosses the stone and Lance snatches it out of the air before it can smack him in the face.

“You trying to take out an eye, or what?” Lance questions. He examines the rock, expecting something different, but it's just black rock like the rest of the of the cliff face. He raises his brow at her.

“Stand here.” She points to the edge of the plateau. The part where it’s smoothed out a little bit more than the rest. The part where Lance had been sitting two weeks ago. Lance swallows back the sour taste in the back of his throat.

“What's going on, Pidge?” He holds tight to the necklace in one hand and the stone in the other. Pidge doesn't look at him.

“Just stand here and throw the stupid rock!” she says. There's an edge to her voice Lance doesn't think he's ever heard before. He ducks his head and steps up to the edge, rock held tight.

“Am I doing this for any specific reason?” he asks. He bounces the stone a couple times, testing its weight. If he's going to be throwing stones, he wants them to go as far as possible. He cranks his arm back, twists for maximum momentum.

“Just one, yeah.” Pidge’s voice cracks just as he throws. His arm stretches over the water and something surges up beneath him.

There's shout behind them, frantic and terrified, but Lance is entranced by the vision in front of him. Wide violet eyes and shimmering red scales. Strong arms come up and hold him tight. Sharp claws dig into his back. He doesn't notice the water surrounding them until it's too late.

Hunk should really stop yelling.


End file.
